German blues researcher Axel Kustner was one of the last blues field workers to comb the southern United States looking for bluesmen, and he was also a renowned photographer. So when I heard that not only would there be a museum exhibit of his photography in West Point, Mississippi but that he would be coming from Europe in person as well, I had to make plans to be there.
So on September 20, 2024, the eminent folklorist Dr. David Evans and I drove down from Memphis to West Point, which happens to be the home of Howlin’ Wolf. We stopped at Jubilation Coffee House (highly recommended) for cheesecake and coffee, and then made our way to the Black Prairie Blues Museum in downtown. The exhibit, entitled “Go’n Play It For Little Brother” (a reference to something West Tennessee bluesman Lattie Murrell once said about Axel), filled the walls of the museum with visual records of a lifetime of chasing the blues. Old record shops, old musicians, juke joints all were captured with artistic effect in a stark black and white. Kustner had ties to the West Point area, not through Howlin’ Wolf, but through his friendship with Big Joe Williams, who was from the town of Crawford, Mississippi. Axel had actually stayed with Williams for a period of time on one of his journeys.
Kustner would be of massive importance to the blues if all he had ever done was take pictures, but in addition, he made. numerous field recordings, some of which are unreleased, and others which saw release on the L + R subsidiary of the German Bellaphon label under the series title “Living Blues USA.” At the time he was traveling in the United States, from 1978 to 1982, it was still possible to find country blues artists in rural parts of the South, although they were becoming fewer and farther between. One of the more remarkable aspect’s of Kustner’s travels was that he was a relatively young man, living a dream, and managed to meet almost all of the great blues musicians he wanted to meet. Kustner’s field recordings were some of the last blues ones to be made in the United States.
As gallery openings often are, the event was more of a party than anything else, but Axel gave a brief talk about his past. Having accomplished as much as he has in his lifetime, he could justifiably be proud, but he is in fact very humble, and always puts the focus on the musicians he interviewed, recorded or photographed.
After the opening, many of us walked down to Anthony’s restaurant on Main Street for a dinner, and then Dr. Evans and I headed back for Memphis, stopping for a late evening dessert at Crave in Tupelo (also highly recommended).